Just announced through Hank Williams III’s website, the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Jr.’s next album will be called Brothers of the 4X4. The album will contain 16 tracks, and be released on Hank3’s own record label distributed by Megaforce Records. The release will also be accompanied by a “hellbilly/punk” album called A Fiendish Threat that will include 13 tracks. No word on a release date or supporting tour dates as of yet, but the master tapes for both albums have been turned into the distribution company.

In early March, Hank3 release this statement:

I’m workin as hard as I can and as fast as I can to finish two records up. Right now I’m 25 songs deep in writin’ while playin’ guitar, singin’, doin’ my own drum tracks, then recording the other players. After that comes mixin’ it, master’n it, the artwork…Once all that is done it’ll be turned in. One is a country record…I’m not really sayin’ anything about the other record…As it looks right now, hopefully we can be on the road by May…

Hank Williams III has been on extended touring hiatus after his drummer Shawn “McNasty” Williams had surgery to repair a rotator cuff, reattach his bicep tendon, and remove bone spurs. In January McWilliams said, “The green light was real close” in regards to his physical therapy regiment and recovery. “This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” McWilliams said, “I can not wait to start playing.”

Please check back as a release date, cover art, track list, and more information becomes available.

You may be right. It’s just that there were a few songs in that “country boy outlaw” vein on Ghost to a Ghost. I thought that was an OK album, but not a great one. However, there were enough good songs on it and Guttertown to make the package a worthwhile purchase.

Kinda an odd choice for an album title but I know that he isn’t a poser like so many of the pop country stars… he actually is really into 4 bying. Hope this album is a little more cohesive than the last, which I like but it just doesn’t flow the best. Very excited as always and looking forward to a hank3 show in the next few months!

Funny that you are so judgmental with other artists and like to put their works down (as you did with Hank’s last country record) yet you use your site as a press machine for Hank 3 without even hearing the album. I know Saving3.org was your original site, and you’ve since changed it to cover all of country music, but it seems very much like if hank 3 would endorse your site, you would never give him a bad review? maybe i’m wrong, I don’t know.

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By the way the word is out about you having Moon Runners infected with malware by the same person that did a clean up of your site just days before their site was hacked. I was a fan of your site until i found this information out, because I was hired to clean up the mess you made of Moon Runners. But your hacker didn’t do a good job of cleaning up his tracks, and we were able to trace the IP that hacked through Joshy P’s account to one of your regulars. From what I understand a federal investigation is being opened into your actions. If I were you I’d pay off that guy real well not to talk because they have his information? They may be talking to him already?

First off, about the Hank3 stuff, yes, as you surmised, since the roots of this website trace back to an organization called freehank3.org, I feel it is my obligation to cover Hank3 news as a matter of habit. That doesn’t mean I am not afraid to give my opinions about his music, and I think anyone can go back through my Hank3 coverage over the past few years, and see that I am willing to criticize him when I feel it is due, just like I will any artist. This was a simple news story, and so opinion would have been inappropriate. Unlike other artists, organizations, websites, etc (and this isn’t a target of ANYONE specifically) that start doing one thing and abandon their roots, I feel it is my obligation to keep the spirit of this website alive by always understanding where it came from.

Also, this may surprise you, but there are also a few folks out there that think I am attempting to profiteer by re-posting the information that is already on Hank3’s website, instead of just linking to his website directly through Twitter and Facebook. The reason I felt the need to post an entire article on this is because I have way more people who read my website than happen to be following me through social network, and so this is the best way to get the information out to the most people, which in the end is the most important thing. There is no artist who puts info out on their own website, who then doesn’t hope that other outlets cover it as news. I always link to Hank3’s website and cite it as the source, so people can find and visit the originator of the information as well.

Now, as for this uncorroborated rumor out there that I in any capacity had anything to do with the hacking of Moonrunners, I want to say to you and everyone else the same thing that I would say if I were looking you straight in the eye. I had absolutely NO involvement in hacking Moonrunners, and anyone who would assert that I did so, and especially that would say that they have evidence that proves such, is a FICTITIOUS BOLDFACE FUCKING LIAR. It is complete, and utter bullshit. And I challenge ANYONE to present ANY supposed “evidence” that I in any way had anything to do with that site getting hacked in a public forum before they spread their fictitious fucking lies, just as I did when I presented evidence that Shooter Jennings and his toadies had perpetuated at least 20 different aliases on this site; a assertion they both later fessed up to in the comments:

Furthermore, you talk to any, ANY web developer of any knowledge or expertise, and they will tell you two things: 1) It is virtually impossible to trace the originator of ANY hack. 2) EVERY website is under CONSTANT cyber-attack from multiple threats at every single moment, and without the right firewall protocols and anti-spam/malware programs in place, ANY website can and will get hacked at any moment.

As I type these words, Saving Country Music is under cyber-attack from multiple threats. This website goes offline intermittently about 5-6 times an hour, and experiences major outages on a daily basis because of all the spam and hacks attempting to exploit the site. For a six week period that ended a couple of weeks ago, I spent on average of 1 1/2 hours a day on the phone with support simply trying to keep this website online.

Furthermore, no “guy” fixed my website, and this is the smoking gun that this fictitious fucking lie is built from a myopic perspective on the part of a few people who wish to start drama and deflect blame from themselves. I saw on Facebook when Moonrunners asserted that they knew who hacked their website, but that they didn’t want to say because they didn’t want to start “drama.” In truth, that’s exactly what they wanted to do, and your comment is evidence of that.

Look, as much as an evil, conniving motherfucker as you may think I am, understand that I at least believe in honor amongst thieves. As someone who spends on average of 50 hours a week working on a website, and as someone who is a constant, perpetual victim of cyber-attack, the absolute last thing I would want for ANY website is for it to get hacked. In this respect, SCM and Moonrunnners are allies, at least we would be if those dumb motherfuckers hadn’t used it as an opportunity to instigate drama.

Moonrunners needs to stop worrying so much about what I am doing, and start looking in the fucking mirror. If Shooter and Jashie hadn’t been spending so much time on this website perpetuating 20 different aliases attempting to undermine it, and noticed that their own website was standing open to common internet threats, then maybe they wouldn’t be in this pickle.

Im not sure.. but Jen sounds a lot like Shooter himself.. This is a total troll post.. I have seen trig say negative things about III many times.. This dude is unbiased.. and the notion that he hacked shooters dumb little blog is asinine to the upteenth degree.. get a life “jen(nings)”

By the way, I left the response to this comment before knowing about/reading the Shooter Jennings post of Facebook where he offers up lots of gobbledygook about non-evidence and says he’s gonna get the feds to bring charges. I will deal with Shooter’s accusations more in-depth in due course.

Excited for this. Not crazy about the title, but hoping he comes out with some good new stuff. I have been a huge 3 fan since the beginning, but his last couple albums really left a sour taste in my mouth for his music. Don’t get me wrong, if he comes out with new material, I will buy it no matter what.His music has broadened my musical horizons immensely. It led me to this site years ago which has introduced me to countless other artists. It led to me .357 and those poor bastards, and I will be forever grateful to hank for that. Hoping for a solid record!

When I saw the title of this article I assumed it was a “Fake News” style parody! I would expect “Brothers of the 4×4” to be an album title for Luke Bryan or Brantley Gilbert, but not from Shelton! Blimey!

With his last release of albums it seemed like Hank III had a lot of ideas that he wanted to get out to the public because Curb Records had been holding him back. Hopefully these albums will be more concise and have more solid tracks on them than the last 3 albums did.

I agree.
When you look at an artist who has been around for 30-40+ years, there are always
A few albums (often in a row) that are pretty bad by comparison to the rest of the catalog.
Hank3 has the drive, the gift to deliver album after album for years to come.
I believe there will come a time when we look back upon these last releases and
Understand how they got into the entire concept that is Hank3.

I think the new found freedom of being his own man will bring many albums of considerable merit to the underground country world. Lets hope this is start of new things for him!

I have not ever been or will be a shooter fan. Even before I found SCM I thought that Shooters style did not belong in the genre he tries to inject himself into. I find a lot of his songs off key and a miserable waste of listening time. I can only find one song per album that could classified as listenable. After reading the posts from the shooter fans and reading what shooter himself has to say I am convinced that no matter the circumstances I will not give one hard earned dime towards him. I am going to roots this year and the only bummer about it is that Shooter will be there. I think I will put my ear buds in and listen to a real man in country music: Mister Waylon Jennings.

Anyone find it concerning that some are judging the album already by the title and comparing the title to what a pop country star would put out and some how that might be cause for concern of the albums material? What should he have called it?
I’m getting a bit tired of this scene. For all the talk of being free and non-conforming, many, and I mean the vast majority of people judge like they are Judy on here and the need to label things is insane. If I were an artist I’d be as scared of getting mixed up in the underground as the mainstream sell outs. Jesus.

Trigger, I’m not criticizing, but like I’ve mentioned on other articles, what exactly are your rules for what constitutes “true” or “real” Country? It’s frustrating because you seem inconsistent in your assertions: in articles on mainstream songs you assert that Country should stay true to its roots and make it seem as if modern mainstream Country NEVER does that anymore (and other than “Merry Go ‘Round,” the reviews always seem (SEEM) to be negative). You claim that the lyrics are bad or lacking soul and the music is lacking in twang (which it frequently is, but I don’t think to the extent that you claim). God forbid if a song strikes you as a combination of genres; at that point, readers are lighting torches and whipping out pitchforks. Then, we get to the underground and you seem (SEEM) to do nothing but praise the music as tasteful and, when it crops up, the combination of genres as artistic. Such is the case with Hank III. I’ll admit to never having laid one of his songs to my ears, but doesn’t he inject elements of METAL into his songs? I find that to be much farther from the roots of the genre than, say, Jason Aldean’s generic Southern Rock guitar riffs. You mentioned in an earlier comment that you don’t always like his music, but you also stated that the site started as one that was devoted to his cause (so you obviously like something about him). Plus, what’s the problem with Rock elements in Country anyway? You seem to go after Eric Church in that department but cut Hank III slack (i.e. it’s “artistic”).

Again, I’m in no way implying criticism past the point of frustration. I’ve scanned your “About” section, but it offered no discernible answer (notice I admit to scanning). I’m just asking as a concerned reader, not as someone that’s trying to tear down your kingdom. Simply put, what is YOUR idea of “true,” “real” or just plain “good” Country music? I’ve been playing around on your site for about a month and only recently started commenting, and while I agree with a LOT of what you seem to believe, I’m starting to chock some of your criticism up to extreme bias more than anything else due to how unclear your standards are (to me). I have criticisms and bias out the ying yang, and I admit it. The only difference is that it’s all music to me, and music is the most subjective art form out in force today.

I haven’t been ignoring your question. The problem is that it’s a very complex one, and really that would be my overall answer. Beyond that, I think there are different definitions for “true” country, “real” country, and “traditional” and “classic” country, and they each can have different definitions depending on who you talk to, and those definitions can change over time as well. For example, I would say that my opinions of what country is have shifted dramatically since I started this website, so you may read something from the past, and that is not necessarily my current sentiment. Then you have the whole business of people trying to make their own new terms to try and define different elements of country, like Shooter Jennings’ “XXX,” and Dale Watson’s, “Ameripolitan.” I even once threw out the idea of “Anti-Country” to attempt to define music that was not necessarily country, but also seems to respect the roots of country than most of what calls itself country.

In the end, I think you simply know if something is “true” or “real” country or not. And just because something isn’t country, doesn’t mean it is bad. And for the record, I am not against mixing genres into country, including rap, as long as it is done with respect and taste.

I very much appreciate your reply and I understand. I initially took your silence as having taken offense (and I hope you know that wasn’t the intent), so thank you for addressing my question. One caveat, however:

“And just because something is country, doesn”™t mean it is bad.”

I hope you meant to put “ISN’T Country,” not is, because if that’s how you meant it I don’t really understand what you mean (and I hope I haven’t caused you to think that I think that Country is “bad,” since I kinda love it).

“And for the record, I am not against mixing genres into country, including rap, as long as it is done with respect and taste.”

What is constitutes “respect” and “taste” for you? I know that this is very much along the same lines as my original questions, so allow me to phrase it in a different way: How would, say, “Dirt Road Anthem” or “Boys ‘Round Here” be the antithesis of respect and taste? I’ve read your reviews (obviously) about two times each, but we’ve been over how Country Rap is a plague. Is there a way to do it respectfully and tastefully, and if so what would that be (in your opinion)?

Just like trying to define true country, respect is a feeling. You know it when you hear it.

Some artists that I think have blended country and hip-hop elements well in the past are Beck, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, there’s a really good beat boxer out there named Adam Matta whose worked with The Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Wiyos, and others. A lot of folks bring up Gangstagrass. But I’ve yet to hear a country rap in popular country that I thought was anything more then a cash grab or cry for relevancy.